Island of the Clouds
by M.L. Shards
Summary: Anton Mercer had never thought much about using dinosaur DNA in anything... until he met John Hammond.


_Location: Isla Nubar- 120 miles off the coast of Costa Rica_

_Year: 1993_

Anton Mercer cracked his knuckles, looking over at the islands below. It was supposed to be something of a miracle island, an island advertised to him as the first place in history that man had challenged the lord, and won. Other than that, he knew nothing.

He understood that he was a potential investor in a project put into production by_ International Genetic Technologies, Incorporated_. As to what that project was exactly, he had not been told.

The small helicopter circled around the island, before landing on a small airstrip. He let out a sigh as a little boy, dressed in jeans and a white polo shirt, began tugging at the sleeve of his black suit.

The poor kid's parents had died only a few weeks earlier in a disastrous cave-in during one of the archeological digs in South America. It was really out of sympathy that Anton had decided to adopt the boy and treat him like his own. With a job like his, a little boy had no real place.

"Why are we here?" The little boy asked curiously.

"Ah! Anton Mercer, so glad you could join us."

Anton watched in amusement as the small boy was taken in by the appearance of the founder of _International Genetic Technologies, Incorporated_ (or _InGen_ as the company was normally referred to). The older man had a white beard and a thinning hairline. He wore a beige coloured suit, supporting himself with an amber topped walking stick.

"Santa?" The little boy wondered aloud.

The man chuckled. "And who do we have here?"

"It's good to see you too John. This is Trent." Anton interrupted, grinning and shaking the other man's hand. "He's my adopted son."

"I never knew you had a paternal instinct Anton." John replied smiling and producing a red lollipop from his jacket pocket, handing it to Trent, whose eyes lit up as he accepted it. He quickly tore the wrapper off and stuck the candy in his mouth.

"Now what is this project I'm supposed to be funding?"

"You know the real tour isn't for a few months still-"

"I'm sorry John, but I'm booked solid, this was the only time I could make it."

John shrugged. "Oh well. Come, we can drop little Trent at the Visitor's Center for lunch and then we can take a tour."

"But I wanna see!" Trent protested suddenly. "Please Santa?" He looked over at the older man with puppy dog eyes.

John paused, looking over at Anton who shook his head. "Now Trent-"

"I suppose he can come." John added thoughtfully. "After all, the park will be family friendly."

Anton frowned. "Park?"

"Why sure." John replied, gesturing for Trent and Anton to follow him into the building. "Let me show you what we do here."

Leading them into a large silver building, down corridors, upstairs, downstairs, and in circles, did John have them arrive at their location. He punched a security code on a keypad that unsealed a locked door allowing them to enter what appeared to be a laboratory. There were large groups of scientists and security guards whizzing by as they went about their business. Trent watched in awe, holding onto the bottom of Anton's coat.

Anton shook his head. He hadn't wanted to leave the boy with a babysitter, but suddenly, bringing him here seemed like a horrible idea.

"Oh! It's lizard!" Trent exclaimed excitedly, popping his lollipop out of his mouth briefly. There was only a small dot of red left on the white, chewed stick. "Can we get a pet?"

"No Trent."

John grinned. "Well, these aren't the types of pets you'd want anyways."

One of the scientists, a young woman with dark brown hair, pulled back in a bun, nodded as the strolled passed and over to an incubator where three very large eggs sat.

"Is there going to be a baby chicken?" Trent asked excitedly.

Anton frowned. A park? Scientists? "John, what's going on here?"

"Shh." The white haired man hushed as one of the eggs began to tremble and shake. "Wait."

It wasn't long before a small head popped out of the egg, and Trent beamed. "Oh! New Daddy! Look! It's a dino… uh… d-dinosaurous!"

John chuckled at the little boy's attempt to say "dinosaur" while Anton squinted. Well, it did look like one… but that was impossible, right?

"That's right, Trent." John replied, grinning. "It's a baby dinosaur."

Trent's eye bulged at this information. "Can we take it home new Daddy? Can we? Please?"

"You're breeding dinosaurs?" Anton asked in shock as he felt colour draining from his face. He paid people tons of money to research dinosaurs and study them. He knew for a fact that their evolutionary patterns had been extraordinary, but the only thing left of them now was their decedents… the birds. They couldn't be breeding dinosaurs, it just didn't make sense! "What? H-how?"

John pushed his brown framed glasses, higher up on his nose. "Now Anton, I believe that this would be the time that Trent would prefer to go play in the Visitor's Center. I'll have Dr. Bernstein explain it all to you. Trent, if you'd like to follow me, your father is going to have a chat with a scientist about some rather boring business stuff."

Trent nodded, pouting as his candy was finished and followed the white haired man out of the laboratory, telling him about how he'd been a good boy all year and that he really did deserve that Mr. Blobby toy he kept asking for. John would nodded and soon change the topic to merchandising, asking what exactly a little boy would want from a place like this.

Anton briefly heard John start to speak of his own grandchildren's interest in dinosaurs and Trent told him about his interests in dragons and how his favorite dinosaur had to be the Stegosaurs, just because it was underappreciated.

He turned to the scientist and nodded.

"We start with fossilized mosquitoes," Dr. Bernstein began, and it was no more than thirty minutes later, that Anton Mercer was signing over a large portion of cash, to help fund _InGen's_ work. Wheels turning in his head a he tried to figure out how he could use their research to his own advantage.

He soon boarded the helicopter with Trent, and headed back home. He smirked as Trent strapped in, carrying his souvenir lunchbox that he'd been given by a security guard in the Visitor's Center. Anton also had his own souvenir, a vial of dinosaur DNA John had given to him, as an appreciative gift and for that extra two million dollars.

Just think of what he could do with this…


End file.
